In crowded industrial and highly populated areas, there is an increasing need for parking space. In an effort to solve that need, there have been developed a number of multi-story parking garages. Some such garages are so compact in configuration that the vehicles cannot be driven from the entrance to the parking space and then to the exit. The garages must be designed so that the vehicle can be mechanically moved by some conveyer means from the entrance to a parking space and then from that parking space to an exit. Comb-shaped catchers are used to convey vehicles within such compact parking garages. The comb-shaped catchers which convey vehicles may be divided generally into two categories.
One main category of the comb-shaped catchers is disclosed within Japanese UM Publication No. 54-62286. In this publication, there is disclosed a comb-shaped conveyer which includes plates that have teeth onto which the tires of the vehicle are driven. The plates are positioned parallel to each other on both sides of the vehicle conveyer and on the center of the respective parking space and may shift longitudinally, perpendicularly or transversely.
When a vehicle enters the parking space, the tires of the vehicle are driven onto the respective comb-shaped plate of the vehicle conveyer. The vehicle conveyer then lifts the vehicle sideways to the front of the arranged parking space. The floor of the parking space having the comb-shape plates thereon advances under the comb-shaped plates of the vehicle conveyer on which the vehicle is placed and the comb-shaped plates holding the vehicle may be shifted downward by utilizing the teeth of the comb-shaped plates. The vehicle is transferred from the comb-shaped plates of the conveyer to the comb-shaped plates of the parking space and shifted sideways towards the parking space. The vehicle conveyer with the comb-shaped plates passes through the comb-shaped plates of the parking space and then shifts downward in order to return. When leaving the parking space, the vehicle conveyer and parking space operate in a reverse fashion.
A second process for conveying vehicles within a multi-story parking garage is disclosed within Japanese Patent Publication 63-251576. This vehicle conveyer operates in a manner similar to that disclosed within the above-discussed publication JA 54-62286. However, in accordance with the device disclosed with in JA 63-251576, the comb-shaped plates of the vehicle conveyer on which the vehicle is placed shift toward the vehicle above the arranged parking space and then shifted downward, and by means of the teeth on the comb-shaped plates of the vehicle conveyer and pass through the space between the teeth of the comb-shaped plates of the parking space. Accordingly, the vehicle is transferred in a forward-direction position.
Conventional vehicle conveyers, such as described above, are designed so that the use of space is not efficiently utilized. Further, due to the configuration of the conveyers, they must operate at a relatively low rate of speed in order to insure safety. In addition, even after the power driving the conveyers is stopped, the mechanism still requires the use of a hand brake or some type of reduction gear in order to halt the operation of the device and insure that the vehicle remains stationary in its parking space. The present invention endeavors to eliminate and/or alleviate such problems and provide a parking conveyer system whereby the space is efficiently utilized, the vehicles are quickly moved from the entrance to the parking space and from the parking space to the exit and whereby they can be held securely in place without the use of extraneous braking operations.